Little Sister
by Catty Feyr
Summary: Rapture didn't fall alongside Jack and Delta. Now someone else has risen. And it's going to take a team of superheroes (or rather, a team of young ex-sidekicks) to stop them.
1. Chapter 1

**I'm putting this at the start of the story because I'm too lazy to put it in every chapter. I own nothing except Louis Carlson, the plot, the phone I write this** **crazy** **story on before I type it out on** **a** **laptop, and the USB stick the story is subsequently saved on. Updates will probably be infrequent and widely spaced as I battle my regular attacks of writer's block and find time to type this madness up. I welcome and appreciate praise, constructive criticism, and people pointing out any spelling and grammar mistakes. Flames will be** **ignored/** **used to make s'mores** **, because I'm assuming you're not tied to a chair and forced to read this, so if you decide you don't like this, don't keep reading it** **.** **Thank you.**

Rapture. A city under the sea. Once a glowing capitalist utopia, now a crumbling monument to a dream gone wrong. Its citizens, monsters, twisted by a drug that changed their DNA, disfigured their faces and bodies, and ruined their minds.

Some people have escaped. Eleanor, the daughter of the mad cultist Sofia Lamb, was able to leave Rapture. She took up vigilantism and is currently working under the alias of the Red-Eyed Ghost and looking after the Little Sisters who came with her. Another escapee is Jack Ryan, son of the founder of Rapture. He started up a child welfare charity and had a family before he was killed by cancer from the ADAM he'd taken during his undersea adventures. His son John stayed in his house. And one of John's cousins...well, let's just say that Louis Carlson had some things in common with one of Rapture's more famous figures. Someone whose actions helped to bring about the fall of Rapture. A man named Yi Suchong.

Louis had always been a scientist at heart, preferring biology and chemistry to history and religious education. He wanted to do something big, something that would make the whole world sit up and take notice. He had heard his Uncle Jack speak of a strange underwater city once, when he was babbling from the effects of drugs given to him to help combat the pain from regular operations to remove the worse tumours. The story had stuck in his mind, and that was why he was sat in the attic of his uncle's old house, rummaging through boxes as he looked for evidence of the city.

He was about to give up when he spotted a box practically mummified in tape. Through the yellow-tinted coverings, Louis could make out the word "Tenembaum."

Tenembaum? Wasn't she Uncle Jack's mom? Dead two years now. Why would her possessions be so tightly sealed up? As though they contained something that should never get out.

Louis grabbed the box cutter knife and started to cut through the layers of tape. It took a while to peel away the thick shell that coated the box, but eventually, he reached the cardboard, sliced through the thick brown strip of tape that held the box closed, and pulled open the flaps.

Inside was something that simultaneously baffled and delighted him. Scientific journals. So Mama Tenembaum had been a scientist? He'd never known that. He'd known that she would always listen when he talked about his latest project, but he'd never known that she'd actually understood him. He eagerly reached for the first journal, noticing happily that they were all dated, and began to read.

Three journals in, Louis had nearly forgotten about the underwater city that had originally drawn him to search the attic, and he'd learned a lot more about his family. Mama Tenembaum was a brilliant woman. Her ideas about changing people on a genetic level were amazing, sparking ideas in his own head about how he could expand on her research. Glancing at his watch, Louis was shocked to realize that three and a half hours had passed. He quickly slipped as many journals as he could fit into his bag and left.

Over the next few weeks, Louis smuggled Mama Tenembaum's journals out of the attic, along with the journals of someone named Suchong that had been boxed up with hers. Maybe Suchong had been a co-worker. He'd read up to journal 10 when he was abruptly reminded of why he'd first come to the attic. Mama Tenembaum received an invitation to a place called Rapture. The journals were a mixture of scientific research, diary entries and scrapbooks, and Mama Tenembaum had pasted the invitation into the journal. Louis admired the Art Deco styling and personalised wording of the invite. The invitation directed the recipient to Greenland. Louis eagerly flipped through the pages. The next few passages described Mama Tenembaum's journey to Greenland, where she'd spent the entire voyage either terrified of sinking or horribly seasick. Upon her arrival, she had not been pleased to learn that there was another boat ride in store. She, like the other passengers, had been most confused upon arrival at a lighthouse in the middle of nowhere. They had all filed into the lighthouse, where they'd been guided to a bathysphere. Louis paused here to look the word up. A primitive submarine? Instantly, Uncle Jack's stories hit him again. An underwater city…Louis grabbed the journal and turned the page.

Louis didn't sleep much over the next month. He co-workers remarked on how exhausted he seemed, but Louis didn't listen. Mama Tenembaum's journals just got more and more interesting. Rapture was bloody sophisticated for being built in the 1940s. It was in journal 18 when Louis learnt that Mama Tenembaum had made possibly the greatest discovery of all time.

ADAM.

Louis couldn't fathom why Mama Tenembaum hadn't told anyone about her discovery. ADAM was a miracle! A chemical that could heal injuries and eradicate disease, rewrite the genetic code, even bestow superpowers. Louis recalled a distant childhood fantasy of being a superhero and wondered why the discovery of ADAM had been kept secret. Maybe the answers were further along in the journals.

Louis read about Mama Tenembaum's experiments with ADAM. He was already plotting his own experiments using more modern, sophisticated equipment. He read as Mama Tenembaum manipulated ADAM alongside Suchong-her partner in the field. However, a problem, arising from his Business Studies course, had emerged-the problem of supply and demand. If ADAM was announced to the people of Rapture, Louis had no doubts that they would leap on it. Louis' mind was whirling with possibilities. An immunisation programme that would be a hell of a lot more effective and efficient. A series of injections that could give a specific set of metahuman abilities. Plastic surgery would go out the window when ADAM could change your genes to give you the chiselled chin or perfect nose you'd always wanted. But all of that would take ADAM. And Mama Tenembaum was worried. Her experiments were taking up most of the ADAM gathered from the sea slugs that produced the stuff. So how could they possibly enhance the slugs' production speed?

The answer had been discovered by accident. Hosts. Louis was both intrigued and disgusted at the prospect of implanting a slug in a person's stomach and collecting the glowing green goo said person would then periodically throw up. Mama Tenembaum expressed doubts about the viability of the procedure. After all, who'd volunteer themselves as a walking super-chemical factory?

Answer: no-one. They hadn't had volunteers, because the only viable hosts were young girls. The 'Little Sisters,' as they were called, were taken from an orphanage built specifically for the purpose of housing unwanted little girls until they were needed. Apparently the process resulted in sickly pale skin, glowing yellow eyes, and darkened hair colour, but they still acted like normal children.

Now, you have to understand. Louis wasn't truly awful. It's just that when he got excited about his projects, he tended to forget little things like ethics and morals. Louis knew that it was horrible to treat little girls like objects, but he also thought that because the only difference was a change in hair, eye, and skin pigment and producing ADAM, it wasn't that bad. And the kids hadn't had a family anyway. No one was going to kick up a fuss about their daughter being a part of ADAM production if they didn't want said daughter in the first place.

Louis read on. As he'd thought, the people of Rapture immediately embraced ADAM. The different kinds available were split into two types-Gene Tonics, which affected the body just by being injected, and Plasmids, which required a type of fuel called EVE. Gene Tonics were generally passive-improving resistance to hot or cold temperatures, lessening the amount of EVE needed to power a plasmid, stuff like that. Plasmids were the powerful stuff. Telekinesis, pyrokinesis, cryokinesis, electrokinesis. More stuff that didn't end in '-kinesis.' Louis wondered once more why Mama Tenembaum hadn't told anyone about her discovery.

The next few passages were relatively mundane. Mama Tenembaum wrote about how she and Suchong were creating more and more Plasmids and Tonics. Apparently their employer changed, but not their jobs. And Mama Tenembaum started to worry.

It looked like ADAM did have side effects. Bad ones. People were developing various disfigurements the more they used ADAM. Tumours, loose skin, hair and teeth falling out. Their mental states started to deteriorate as well. Hallucinations, paranoia, and violent fits of rage were the most common problems. But once they started using ADAM, they got addicted. Seriously addicted. They couldn't stop 'splicing,' as using ADAM was known. Louis put the journal down and thought for a bit. So ADAM was addicting and led to insanity and disfigurements. Perhaps it had something to do with the unstable nature of the substance...maybe the negative effects of ADAM could be nullified by using some kind of stabiliser after splicing...Louis shook his head. If he was going to prove any of his theories, he'd need ADAM to experiment with. If he was going to obtain ADAM, he needed to get to Rapture. And if he was planning to survive in Rapture (and he was,) he had to finish these journals. Louis kept reading.

Mama Tenembaum was worried about the effects of splicing. And soon the situation became even direr.

Civil war broke out. There had been unrest in Rapture. Rapture's capitalist policies meant that while the rich got richer, the poor got poorer. Socialists were decried as 'parasites.' Social welfare programmes and benefit systems didn't exist. And eventually, on New Year's Eve 1959, a popular restaurant, the Kashmir, where Rapture's founder, Mr. Ryan, was dining that night, was attacked. Rapture quickly turned into an anarchist war-zone. Tonics like FreshHair and Rejuvena were dropped, in favour of plasmids like Insect Swarm and Incinerate. Demand for ADAM grew to the point where Little Sisters were mentally conditioned to see Rapture as beautiful and peaceful, so they weren't scared, and to see ADAM-rich corpses as 'angels' and their blood as chocolate. They were sent out to collect and 'recycle' ADAM by drinking it in order to increase the supply. To keep them safe, people (AKA criminals or folks no-one would miss) were turned into 'Big Daddies'-brainwashed, armour-clad behemoths wielding deadly weaponry to protect their young charges from the insane, ADAM-addicted populace. The idea had been kicking around for years, with similar suits used to go outside and perform repairs and maintenance work, but their new task was to use their drills and rivet guns to bring down anyone who threatened a Little Sister.

Eventually, Uncle Jack made an appearance. Apparently he was the son of Rapture's founder, Andrew Ryan. He'd been programmed with a trigger phrase that forced him to obey orders, and Ryan's enemies had seized him and sent him up with a head full of fake memories. He'd come into Rapture after causing a plane crash next to the lighthouse that was the entrance to Rapture. After battling his way through the mad city, he rescued many of the Little Sisters and Mama Tenembaum.

Mama Tenembaum's last journal detailed a final visit to Rapture. Little girls along the coast were being kidnapped, and Mama Tenembaum felt that it had something to do with Rapture. She'd arrived to a bizarre religious cult, grown up Little Sisters who had gone feral and now protected their young replacements under the name 'Big Sisters,' and two unexpected allies in the form of the cult leader's daughter, ex-Little Sister Eleanor, and Eleanor's old Big Daddy, Alpha Series Delta, usually just called Delta. Mama Tenembaum returned to the surface long enough to see the sun and say a final goodbye to Eleanor.

Louis put down the final, finished journal and thought for a long while. Then he reached for his laptop and started looking at travel prices to Greenland and gun handling lessons.


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, chapter 2! Gah, still not happy with how this turned out. So for all intents and purposes, this story is set after the end of season 1, but Robin still wears his sunnies and is referred to as Rob or Robin out of habit, the Supers never had their little talk and are still on absolutely awful terms, and Artemis still snarks at Wally a lot. She can't help it, he's still a doofus, it's in her nature. Anyway, enough babbling from me, let's get this show on the road!**

Conner was wandering around Happy Harbour, hoping for a criminal that he could fight to make himself feel less useless. The recent missions that the Team had gone on had required little strength and a lot of stealth-one of his weak points. The young half-Kryptonian clone had felt pretty useless lately, since his skills hadn't been needed for a while. And on top of that, earlier Superman had come round. But only to ask Robin if he could look after his dog Krypto for a while since he was going off-planet. He hadn't even looked at Conner. Conner hadn't even known that Superman _had_ a pet dog until he'd asked Robin who Krypto was. Krypto had taken a liking to him and Wolf, which was nice, but there's a difference between someone liking you and their dog liking you.

Conner morosely kicked at a few leaves on the sidewalk. He was just walking aimlessly and feeling sorry for himself. But then, as he passed an alley, a commonly-used shortcut to the local docks, he paused.

He'd caught the tang of metal and brine in the air. He'd heard the soft sound of light metal boots being worn by a very stealthy person. He turned his head slightly and saw the flash of bronze-coloured metal and a glowing red light. Conner made a snap decision to follow the person walking down the alley.

The person in the alley, hearing Conner's footsteps, quickly reached for her modified Chemical Thrower. Doctor had helped her to change it to a gas ammunition. She glanced around. Nobody else there. Good. No witnesses to worry about then. She quickly spun and aimed as fast as she dared-the gas didn't spread widely. Less chance of causing a scene, but also less room for error. She reached for the trigger.

Conner had immediately moved into a fighting stance the moment the other person had turned, but he didn't register the smell of sleeping gas until it was too late. This wasn't a version that his half-Kryptonian biology was immune to. Before he passed out, the last thing he registered was a blur of brown and bronze and an old-fashioned diving helmet with a crimson light glowing from the porthole.

Conner slowly blinked awake. He was strapped down to a table…and he also felt really weak and nauseous. Turning his head revealed the glowing green crystal left lying next to him.

Kryptonite. Dammit.

Conner tried to move, but he couldn't move very much. Whoever had strapped him down had clearly wanted to make sure he wouldn't escape. And the person who had strapped him down was probably the man in a lab coat stood with his back to Conner. Conner couldn't see much, except for jeans, Oxford shoes, and short, light brown hair.

Despite feeling weak, sick, and still slightly woozy from the knockout gas, Conner decided to try and speak. _Let me go_ , he decided to say, and sucked in a breath.

"Lemiguh," came out. Slurred and completely incomprehensible, but it got the man's attention. He turned, revealing a normal (if tired) looking man with completely unremarkable features, wearing a plain, pale blue button-up shirt under the lab coat. His voice, when he spoke, had a carefully neutral American accent.

"Ah, you're up. Good. I was getting worried. I wasn't sure if the anaesthetic and Kryptonite would react badly, but you're alive, and that's what matters. I was surprised when I found out that you were the half-Kryptonian boy who's been frustrating some of my clientele. Luckily, a particular member of said clientele was willing to give me some Kryptonite to use in my experiments. It's come in handy, wouldn't you say?"

Conner groaned. The man's talking wasn't helping his headache. He glanced round, hoping to spot something that might help him to escape. Nothing. Only spotlessly clean medical tools too far away to be useful, several bottles (probably medicines,) a ridiculous amount of syringes containing red and blue liquids, and for no reason Conner could fathom, a tank full of sea slugs. Conner stared. Why the hell would somebody decide to put a tank full of slugs in what looked an awful lot like a surgery room?

The man followed Conner's gaze. "Ah, yes. My slugs. It confuses everyone, you know. They don't know how powerful these little creatures are. You see, these slugs are the key to incredible powers, and will be the thing that guarantees my entry into the Justice League once I've double-crossed the Light."

Conner decided that the man was bonkers. But that's not a comforting thought when the mad person is approaching with a tourniquet, topical anaesthetic and a glowing red syringe. The man put them on a trolley full of medical equipment and pulled it over to the table.

"Now-oh, where are my manners? You may refer to me as Dr Carlson. You are?"

Conner glared silently.

"Defiant, eh? Never mind. We'll have it out of you soon enough. Anyway, you're here because you're going to help me. I need help if I'm to get into the Justice League. Now don't look at me like I'm mad. I assure you I am perfectly sane." Dr Carlson started putting the tourniquet on Conner's upper arm and applying the anaesthetic cream on the crook of his elbow, over the vein. "You needn't worry, though. I've done this sort of thing before. Took a bit of trial and error, but I've perfected the process now. I reproduced this one at the behest of Mr Luthor. I've performed human tests, but I wonder if your unique biology will react in a different way though. Should be interesting." Dr Carlson checked the tourniquet was tight, stripped off his rubber gloves for a fresh pair, and picked up the syringe.

"Now, I'm afraid that this will knock you out for a while, and you may feel sick when you wake up. But it's to be expected. I mean, rewriting your very DNA, it must be a very energy-intensive process." Dr Carlson started tapping Conner's elbow to find the vein.

Conner was confused. Rewriting DNA? What did that mean? Why was he even here? His thoughts were derailed as he registered the sharp prick in his arm. As he started to feel tired and woozy, he saw the doctor start walking over to a bank of computer monitors.

And then Conner blacked out.

The Team were panicking. Conner had disappeared. The last anyone had seen of him was when he'd spoken to M'gann in the sitting room, saying he was going for a walk. M'gann hadn't been worried when he'd been gone half an hour. After one hour, she'd started wondering where he'd gone. An hour and a half after he'd left, a worried M'gann tried to call him. No answer. She tried again. Nothing. Then she began to get scared. She'd frantically contacted Uncle J'onn, who in turn had alerted the League. Every member of the Team had been contacted, trying to find out where he'd gone. He wasn't at any of their homes. Aquaman was consulting all of the sea life that had been around Happy Harbour at the time. Batman was reviewing security tapes in an effort to track Conner's movements. The two Martians were performing mental sweeps of the area to see if they could hear Conner. Even Superman had been (reluctantly) dragged into the search. He couldn't find anything.

Eventually, it was Batman who found the answer. Everyone crowded around him to watch the grainy security footage as Conner was gassed and abducted by someone who vaguely resembled the New York City vigilante Red-Eyed Ghost.

"I've already contacted Eleanor," stated Batman. "It isn't her, but she sounded absolutely terrified when I described it, told me to send Aquaman to talk to the sea life of Greenland, and asked me to never talk to her about it again."

"So she knows it?" asked Wally.

"I think that's obvious, Kid Idiot," snarked Artemis.

"But why's she scared of it? And why is it dressed similarly? And why did it take Conner? And where?" worried M'gann.

"There's more," said Batman. He pulled up more film, showing the kidnapper bringing Superboy to a dock. A strange bronze-coloured sphere surfaced and a hatch on the side opened, another diving-suit-clad figure leaning out. The newcomer helped the kidnapper get Superboy inside before said kidnapper climbed in themselves, pulling the hatch closed after them. After a few seconds, the sphere submerged again.

"A bathysphere?" said Kaldur, frowning.

"Bath-what?" asked Wally.

"It's an old version of a submarine. But they're obsolete now. We've made a lot of advancements and about the only place to find one is a museum," explained Robin.

"But why would anyone be using such outdated technology?" asked a confused Artemis. "If we've got more advanced equipment, why use this hunk of junk? It looks like it's one good thump away from falling apart!"

"Maybe…yeah, no, you're right, I got nothing," admitted Robin. "If they'd stuffed Conner in and submerged it with only him inside, it might make sense as a murder attempt, but they got in too. Although they do have a diving suit, which would let them escape, but it still doesn't make much sense. It's too theatrical, and there isn't much reason to be theatrical if nobody's watching. So someone's kidnapped him, but they needed a submarine, and they either can't or won't use a modern one."

"Submarines are very expensive," remarked Batman, "but a bathysphere would be even harder to procure, given that you can only get them in a museum. So either they're a museum owner, or they have both money and madness."

Suddenly the computer announced Aquaman's arrival. Kaldur turned to greet his king, and instantly noticed how shaken he looked. "My king? What is wrong?"

Aquaman just shook his head. "I have failed in my duty to watch over the ocean. How can I call myself the king of the seas when I managed to miss something like this?"

"Something like what?" asked Artemis.

Aquaman looked at her solemnly. "A city…an entire underwater city."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3, whoo! Now we're getting somewhere! This one is kinda short, sorry. Let's get going!**

"A-a city?" spluttered Robin. "Underwater?"

Aquaman nodded gravely. "Not as nice as Atlantis-although I admit, I am biased-but yes, a city. I did not believe it at first, but I have seen it with my own eyes, albeit from a distance. I left quickly, but I did observe people clad in diving suits similar to the one worn by Eleanor."

"And these?" Batman showed Aquaman the bathysphere.

"Yes," confirmed Aquaman. "I did see a bathysphere approaching the city. I left just after it entered some kind of airlock."

"What else did you see, my king?" asked Kaldur politely. "Any bit of information could be useful."

"While observing the city, I was rather reminded of New York. Perhaps Eleanor went there because she came from this city, and New York reminds her of it. And the diving suited figures-some were tall and thin like Eleanor, but others were far bulkier, and had more visible weaponry than her blades. Drills and guns, and one or two with shoulder mounted cannons."

"Great," complained Wally, throwing his hands up. "So we've got a creepy underwater city possibly containing our kidnapped friend, majorly outdated submarines floating around, and heavily armed weirdos in museum-worthy diving suits. What next? A flying city and interdimensional portals leading to parallel universes?"

"Kid Flash, there is no need to be ridiculous," said Batman sternly.

"So what should we do?" asked Kaldur, before Wally could summon up enough courage to make a retort.

"Well, I'd prefer for you to stay here, but I know that you'd just sneak out and start an unauthorised rescue mission anyway, so I'm sending you to these coordinates Eleanor gave me. You'll wait there until you have adult supervision to accompany you."

"I've called Roy," added Green Arrow. "He's agreed to come along, 'cause apparently he's been planning a trip to Greenland anyway, so if you could pick him up in Star, that'd be great."

Artemis scowled.

The bioship was headed for the coordinates provided by Eleanor, which, according to a map, pointed to the middle of the ocean.

"So why were you headed for Greenland?" Robin asked Roy.

"I've been trying to track down Roy Harper-I mean, the original Roy Harper-and I've been following a load of leads to various Cadmus facilities. I broke into a low-security one in Texas and stole a flash drive, and it mentioned something about a massive 'asset shipment' to Greenland. I told Black Canary and she's agreed to look into the shipment while I sneak in to see what I can dig up. But there's nothing I can do until the shipment arrives, so I agreed to come along and check this out. 'Sides, I kinda missed hanging out with Rob and Wally."

"Aw, you do care," smirked Robin.

"Can it, Birdy."

"Almost there," M'gann's chipper voice broke in. She'd perked up as they approached the coordinates, obviously eager to get her boyfriend back.

"Uhh…green cheeks?" said Wally, staring through the window. "I think you're gonna wanna see this."

The bioship touched down on the rocky island that the coordinates had led them to. The Team were confused as to why a lighthouse had been constructed on such a small, distant rock. It was a disaster waiting to happen. As Roy put it, 'only a madman or a sicko would build something like this.' Since it was freeing cold and starting to rain, the decision was unanimous to go into the lighthouse until the League members turned up. As soon as they'd entered, the glowering gold statue was almost enough to make them consider going back outside. Robin squinted up at the tattered scarlet banner stretching above them.

" _'No gods or kings. Only man.'_ Well, what does that mean?" Everyone shrugged.

Wally sped upstairs and was back down in five seconds. "I found a few candy bars!" He held up a brightly-wrapped bar with 'Pep Bar!' written on the label.

"Pep Bar?" asked Artemis. "Never heard of that brand. Anything else?"

"Just a flat bottle of soda from another obscure brand. No people, which is really weird. Shouldn't there at least be a lighthouse keeper?"

"Hey KF?" yelled Robin from the other side of the lighthouse. "Did you check the basement?"


End file.
